


heart a little clearer

by myscribblingquill



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Accidental Relationship, Aftermath of trauma, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Marauders' Era, Quidditch, hand-holding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 09:09:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13586874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myscribblingquill/pseuds/myscribblingquill
Summary: It started with a jumper. The accidental mistake of picking up the wrong one while leaving the Quidditch pitch and somehow Mary found herself in a relationship because of what everyone assumed. It would have been pretty easy to get out of but then there was a letter from Sirius' mother, a trip to Hogsmeade, hand-holding at midnight and she found that what was supposed to be pretend isn't quite so fake anymore.aka fake-dating blackdonald





	heart a little clearer

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: _Person A and Person B are on the same high school sports team but don’t know each other well and are not together. One day, they accidentally grab each others’ sweatshirts (those team ones with the last names on them) and put them on without realising, causing everyone in school to think they’re dating_

There was rain dripping down off the ends of her hair, running down the rivulets of her face. Mary brushed a hand down her face and the water collected on her palm. It was cold but she didn’t feel it. Her body burned, her muscles ached and there was a heaviness behind her eyes. Yet with all that Mary couldn’t have felt exhilarated. 

Quidditch did that to her.

When she’d first held a broom, back in first year when everything at Hogwarts was still new, she had felt some sort of terror in her stomach. The years flying about on the pitch had helped to quell it, molding it into excitement. It was that excitement that kept her going back to the pitch, time and time again, no matter what happened to her elsewhere.

Practice was brutal. The rain from all direction, switching and changing it’s pace had made it hard to see. The rain had made sight difficult, and the wind had made staying on her broom a challenge too. As the Captain, James had been pushing the whole team for weeks, getting them to practice their passes, their flying techniques, their teamwork. He was determined to beat Slytherin in their first match and most of the team felt the same way.

Mary’s hands were stiff and her face felt frozen as James blew the whistle for the end of practice. She couldn’t wait to get back to the showers and warm up. The rest of the team had the same idea and they traipsed off the pitch. Once inside the wetness of her clothes stuck to her skin and made her shiver. She reached for her jumper, the red and gold pattern with each of the player names on the back made any of the player stand out when they wore them off the pitch. Mary liked to wear hers whenever she could get away with it. The fabric was soft and warm and it warmed her up quickly.

She dried off the rest of her Quidditch gear and her shivering had subsided a little bit. The lockers were almost empty but Mary could hear James and Sirius talking at the end of the room.

“See you in the common room,” She called and walked out of the door, keeping the thought of a nice warm shower in mind. Quidditch was tiring at the best of times but with the rain and the adrenaline now wearing off exhaustion was washing over her.

“Great practice, Mary,” she heard James shout.

The door swung shut behind her and the sound of her name made her pause for a moment. She could still hear the mumble of Sirius’ voice but she didn’t hear her name again. Mary brushed it off as her imagination and made her way to the showers.

The warmth from the water gradually seeped its way through her, warming her as the steam filled the room. Sleep clawed at her eyes and she could feel them slipping shut. Mary forced herself out of the shower. She pulled on her warm clothes and plaited her hair down her back and then tugged on her Quidditch jumper. She rarely wore it for practice now, even though that’s what James claimed they’re for, it’s too warm and soft to play in. It became her comfort clothing that she wore when the nightmares’ got bad or she’s exhausted from a game.

Somehow Mary made it back to the common room. She managed to avoid Peeves, who was making a mess in one of the classrooms, and she ran into Professor McGonagall who asked her about their practice. Mary was too tired to answer with more than a few words, and when the Fat Lady swung open Mary collapsed onto the closest chair she could find.

The world was warm and bleery and Mary’s eyes slipped shut for a few minutes, determined to get up as soon as the fire died down - she forgot that a magical fire will keep burning as long as she’s in the room. Her Quidditch jumper was warmer than normal, the sleeves slipped down past her hands and she’s wasn’t sure if it’s her sleep-clouded brain but it smelled wonderful.

Halfway between falling asleep and being awake Mary could still hear the movement around her. The crackling of the fire and the conversations in the corners of the common room. Quidditch practice had meant she was up early and now the rest of Hogwarts was just waking up.

“Mary,” A sing-sing voice said, as a hand shook her shoulder. “Are you coming to get some breakfast?”

She groaned at the thought of moving. But even though she’d eaten before practice she was starving and Mary knew that if she didn’t eat everything in a few hours everyone in the library would be able to hear her stomach complaining. 

Mary dragged her eyes open and sat up, her jumper slipping off her shoulder. She frowned and pulled it back up. Somehow it must have been stretched because she didn’t remember it ever being so big on her. 

“How was practice,” Alice asked as she laced up her shoes.

“Wet and windy,” Mary said, blinking her eyes a few times to get rid of the sleepiness.

“We’d better get down to the hall before all the food goes,” Mary let out a snort of laughter and Lily appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

“Morning, sleepy,” Alice laughed. Lily must have just rolled out of bed and dragged some clothes on as her hair was rumpled and unbrushed and she didn’t look happy to be awake.

“Morning,” Lily grumbled back.

Mary stood up and turned towards the door, the thought of food making her stomach rumble.

“Mary, how was -” Lily broke off and Mary turned to see her grinning.

“What?” Mary asked, as Lily’s grin grew even wider and Alice let out a giggle. She was sure that she’d washed all the mud off her face and her Quidditch jumper had been washed a few days ago --no matter what anyone said about her wearing it too much. There was no reason for Lily to be grinning like a cheshire cat but she was and even Marlene joined in.

“Oh, nothing,” Lily said, still grinning, “How was Quidditch?”

“It’s raining,” Mary glared out the window, “And James made us stay out there for two hours,”

Lily wrapped an arm around Mary’s shoulder with a sympathetic groan and propelled her towards the door. The three of them found the Great Hall filled with most of Hogwarts. The noise was a little deafening and they had to speak up to be heard. They found seats next at the far end of the table and pushed their way past those already sitting.

Mary wasn’t paying much attention to anyone else. She trailed behind Lily, willing her legs to hold on for a little while longer, till she could sit down. The strange looks that she was getting and jeers from some of the seventh year boys faded into the background as Mary flopped down onto the bench.

The food was steaming hot and smelled amazing as Mary’s plate filled in front of her. She barely tasted it but her plate was empty and she was started to feel her energy levels rise. 

Her plate refilled, and she swirled her fork around, savouring the tastes of the bacon and freshly made scrambled eggs. Now that she wasn’t quite so tired she started to pay attention to her surroundings. Of course, the great hall looked just the same as usual but the people in it were always changing.

With Lily to her left, Marlene and Alice sat across the table chattering with Dorcas who had joined them from the Hufflepuff table. The light chatter of their conversation made Mary smile as she scanned down the table for the rest of their friends. Remus was sat a little way up, gesturing wildly at Peter who was nodding along but not really paying attention. Neither Sirius or James were there though, Mary could almost tell that from the level of noise in the hall. 

“Mary,” Lily prodded her with her fork, “Did you say you’d finished the Charms essay?”

“I’ve started it,” Mary said.

“I have no clue what the topic even is,” Marlene said and slurped down the rest of her eggs.

“Delightful Mckinnon,” 

“Morning Evans, Marls,” James said with a nod. He was smiling and almost rocking on his heels with too much energy for someone who’d spend two hours on the Quidditch pitch.

Mary could feel that Sirius was stood behind her. She guessed that he’d probably looked like he’d never even seen mud before -- he’d been covered in it that morning and if she’s honest she found it rather attractive -- and her heart would leap at the sight of him. Mary’s legs tensed as she heard him shuffling behind her. She turned around to find him grinning down at her with a little bit of shock hidden underneath the grin. To say she wasn’t prepared would be an understatement, Mary felt heat spread across her face to her ears and down her neck. 

She smiled back sheepishly and hoped that her face wasn’t quite matching the jumper she was wearing.

“Mary, we need to -” James started.

“If you start talking about Quidditch I will pour ketchup over your head,” Mary interrupted him. She loves Quidditch but sometimes she needed to not thinking about it for a while.

Sirius let out a snort of amusement and laughter bubbled around the table. The fondness in Sirius’ smile as he shook his head at James made Mary’s heart ache, wondering what it would be like to have that smile directed at her. Instead of thinking about that she focused on the ache in her muscles, and the heaviness behind her eyes. Mary pushed her plate away and sunk her head onto the table.

“Mary, why are you -” James exclaimed before a hiss from Lily cut him off.

Raising her head slightly off the table Mary caught Lily’s eye for long enough to see the smugness radiating from her -- still radiating from her really, it had been there since they’d left the dorm and Mary had no clue why.

James was fixated on looking at Mary’s back and for a moment she thought she might have something on it. But she wearing her Quidditch jumper, the one with her name on it, and she’d been sure to keep it clean enough to wear. 

“Why am I so tired?” Mary finished what she assumed he was going to say, “I’m tired because of the drills you put us through,”

James grimaced a little and then a smile broke over his face, “At least we’ll be in with a chance of winning this year,”

“She’s got a point though. My legs hurt and I can’t stay on a broom if they fall off,” Sirius added. His tone was bright and cheery and Mary couldn’t help but wonder why everyone seemed to be checking her back. Even Sirius’s eyes kept darting there as if he’d forgotten her name.

The two boys sit down, lanky limbs folding beneath the table. Sirius is close enough to Mary that his elbow jostled her as he tucked into his food. 

“Sorry,” 

“S’ fine,” Mary had to resist slumping down onto the table, or onto Sirius’s shoulder. She wasn’t quite so tired anymore but she’d have still prefered to spend the day sleeping.

“Good job in practice this morning,” 

“You too, that second goal you caught was awesome,” Mary grins at the memory. 

James had thrown the quaffle at the hoop furthest away from Sirius. He had to dive for it to stop it going through and Mary found that her heart had leapt into her throat when his body tipped sideways on his broom. Luckily Sirius had quickly righted himself, quaffle in hand, and Mary loosened her grip on her broom. 

She managed to forget about the dangers of Quidditch while she was playing, but then someone would get hurt and she’d remember that she was flying around with only a piece of tree stopping her from falling to the ground. Mary tried not to focus too much on that, putting her faith in the magic that kept her broom flying. 

There hasn’t been a serious accident from a Hogwarts Quidditch game in a while. But then the house cup hadn’t started yet. Their first match with Slytherin didn’t take place for a few more weeks but the thought still made Mary’s stomach a little queasy.

“I’ve been practising. Gotta beat the Slytherin’s,” Sirius’ face darkens and his eyes flit over to where Regulus is sat at the Slytherin table. 

Regulus is sat by himself, his face half hidden by the newspaper he’d reading. He must have noticed their attention as he dropped the paper and met his brother gaze. For a moment Mary thought she could see regret flit across Regulus’ face but then his mouth hardened and he raised his chin. Sirius snorted beside her and then Regulus folded his paper and left with a final glare at them.

“Bloody Reg,” Sirius muttered, along with a string of words that Mary didn’t quite catch but got the gist of. James turned to see the retreating figure and when he caught Mary’s eye she could see the concern written on his face. She knew that something happened between Sirius and his family over the summer. There’s more tension between the two brothers now and Mary had noticed that Sirius’ face darkened whenever Voldemort was mentioned.

“I’ve been thinking that we need to do something to welcome everyone back,” James said and then launched into a plan for pranking the teachers which Remus enthusiastically added his input too. Sirius stayed quiet though.

“Don’t worry we’ll beat them,” Mary lowered her voice so that no one else could hear her. The Slytherin table was almost full with people that brought the taste of fear into her mouth. “We could beat them without any -” Mary broke off when she saw three boys sit down near the head of the table.

The fear that was a just a foul taste at the back of her mouth, at the thought of the Quidditch match, blossomed down her throat and clawed at her lungs. She tried to swallow it down. Mulciber, Avery and Rosier had their backs to the Gryffindor table but their laughs echoed. Mary willed her eyes to move away from them, to look out the window, at her plate, at anything other than the backs of their heads but her eyes were stuck. Her brain was frozen and she could feel her breathing start to quicken.

“Mary, Mary,” A hand squeezed hers. She felt the tears spring into her eyes and she gulped them down, determined not to cry in front of everyone.

Mary squeezed the hand holding hers back and dragged her eyes away from the Slytherin table. A thumb brushed over her fingers in a repetitive motion and Mary tried to breath with the movements.

“Mary,” The voice came again and that time Mary recognised it as Sirius’.

“I’m okay,” She said trying to convinced both herself and him, but there was a quiver in her voice. “I’m okay,” She said again, her voice a little steadier as she raised her head to stare at the ceiling. There were a few clouds scattered around and Mary could almost feel the breeze as they floated across the ceiling.

Mary took a few deep breaths and forced a smile onto her face. Concern was etched onto Sirius’ face. His brow was furrowed, his eyes simmering with anger as he determinedly didn’t look at the Slytherin table. His thumb was still brushing over her fingers.

“I’m fine,” Mary said, in response to his unasked question. He didn’t look convinced but the murderous look lessened.

Sirius’ eyes focused on something over her head. Mary turned to see Lily gripping her fork, watching them with concern and, strangely, a little bit of curiosity.

“I think we should head to the library,” Lily said, and the fork dropped out of her hand with a clang.

“Good idea, I need to get this easy started,” Marlene stood up, leaving her half empty plate and leveling the Slytherin table with a deadly glare. 

Mary felt a burst of love for her friends. She didn’t even have to say anything and they’d all realised what had happened. She pushed back her fear and gave them a watery smile. 

“Thank you,” Mary whispered. 

Lily linked their arms together and tugged her up from the table. As she went to steady herself on the edge of the table Mary found that her hand was still in Sirius’. Mary gave it a final squeeze, a silent thank you for his support, and went to pull away. He let her hand slip out of his but followed her up from the table.

“I’ll walk you to the library,” He said with something else simmering beneath the surface of his words. 

“You don’t have too,”

“I know but…” Sirius nodded towards the Slytherin table and Mary felt her smile tighten. He pushed his still full plate towards the centre of the table. Mary felt a little guilty for dragging him away from his breakfast but he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and all her protests evaporated away. 

Sirius nudged James and nodded towards the door, “I’ll be back in a minute,”

“Okay,” James looked confused for a moment and then understanding swept over his face when he saw Sirius’s arm over Mary’s shoulders. “You alright Mary?”

Mary nodded with a smile, “I’m okay,” 

James gave Sirius a suspicious look, somewhere between a smile and a glare before he turned back to his discussion with Remus and Peter. 

“Come on,” Lily tugged them towards the door, “We’ve got an essay to write,”

Mary chuckled at Lily’s downcast tone as the weight on her chest started to evaporate. With Sirius’ arm around her shoulder and Lily’s tucked through hers, the panic and fear from a few minutes ago was already fading.

The essay wasn’t too difficult to completely before dinner rolled around. The girls spent most of the day in the library, though Alice had disappeared around lunch time, and Marlene kept trying to get lost in the bookshelves. The sense of accomplishment was worth the crick in her neck though. 

“I’m finished,” Mary announced with a triumph.

Lily groaned and clicked her pen again, evicting a groan from Marlene.

“Why did you have to bring those things with you?” Marlene glared at the pen Lily was fiddling with.

“They’re easier than those bloody quills that everyone uses,” 

Mary chuckled and put her own pen back into her pencil case. It wasn’t one that clicked like Lily’s but Marlene glared at it anyway.

“Are you finished with the books?” Mary started to gather the up the scattered piles that they been using. 

Lily grunted around her pen, and scribbled out another sentence, which Mary took to mean ‘yes’.

“Wait, I need that one,” Marlene grabbed a book from underneath Mary’s hand and flicked through it, not paying any attention to the words.

“Finished your procrastination yet, Marls,” Mary teased.

“Just got one final bit to do,” Marlene poked her tongue out and Mary left their little study area with a smile on her lips.

Mary knew she could just leave the books and they’d find their own ways back to the shelves but she liked walking between the stacks. At least she liked the safe area of the Hogwarts library, the restricted section with the screaming books and dark magic hidden in corners made her spine tingle with fear. 

She wandered slowly down the aisles, letting the books float back up to their places on the shelves.

“Scuse me,” She said as she squeezed past a group of fourth year Hufflepuffs. They were giggling about something, and her presence caused them to scurry away with furtive glances.

There were only two books left to go back when she ran into Emmeline Vance charming a book down from the top shelf.

“Hey Emma,” Mary said with a friendly tone. Emmeline was in the year above them, Mary didn’t know her too well, but she always been friendly, a smile in the corridor or a wave hello.

“Hey Mary,” The book thumped down into Emmaline’s hand in a cloud of dust making them both cough. “I saw what happened in the hall this morning. Are you alright?”

The concern was a little surprising to Mary, so many of her fellow students had written her off as a liar or a thought she was exaggerating when the story of Mulciber’s attack on her was plastered over the papers. It made Mary a little bit wary to talk about it with anyone other than her friends, but Emmaline’s concern seemed genuine and Mary remembered the hug she’d given her at the end of last year.

“Yeah, it was a bit of shock. I wasn’t expecting to react like that,” 

Emmaline took a step forward and placed a hand on Mary’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’ve got someone to look out for you. I think we all know how much he hates the Slytherin’s.”

Confusion creased Mary brow. Was Emmeline referring to Sirius? They’ve been friends for ages but why she would single him out as Mary’s primary support is puzzling. Unless she’s talking about how he’d acted this morning, which Mary’s sure was a one-off because he was there and he noticed when no one else had.

“Yeah, I mean I’ve got Lily and Alice and Marls too,” Mary said hoping to dispel any assumptions that Emmeline might have.

Emmeline smiled and walked back towards the tables, “And the rest of Gryffindor too, don’t forget that.” She raised a hand in a wave goodbye. “I’m happy for you. I’ll see you later,”

Mary stayed in the same spot for a few seconds trying to patch her thoughts together. From what Emmeline had said it sounded like she thought there was something going on between her and Sirius. Other than holding hands that morning, Mary couldn’t think of any reason why she would assume that. She put the last book back on the shelf and made her way back to Marlene and Lily.

“I can’t finish my essay with my pen,” She heard Lily exclaimed from the direction of their table. As she got closer Mary could see Lily glaring at Marlene who was grinning smugly.

When she noticed Mary’s approach Lily’s eyes lit up, “Mare, tell Marlene to give my back my pen,”

“Mare, tell Lily not to click it every ten seconds,”

“It helps me think,”

“It makes me want to strangle you,”

“You can’t strangle me with a pen in your hand,” Lily lunged forward to snatch then pen but Marlene pushed her chair backwards.

“Don’t you have any other pens?” Mary asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

“That’s my lucky essay writing pen,” Lily whined.

“Why don’t you use a quill like the rest of us,”

“Because a quill isn’t a lucky pen and people don’t go around stealing them,” 

“I’m pretty sure you stole James’ the other day,”

“That’s because he was being a prat with it,”

Mary sat down in her chair and chuckled at her friends argument. The pen that Lily so passionately needed for her essay was within easy reach of Mary and she knew that Marlene wouldn’t stop her from reaching for it. Besides Lily was almost done with her essay, as was Marlene, and Mary could feel, from her stomach, that it was almost time for dinner.

She let them argue a little while longer, pulled her sleeves over her hands and tucked her feet up under her legs and made a mental note to thank whoever had last washed her jumper. They must have been using a different washing powder because it smelled amazing. 

When Lily flumped down into her chair, glaring daggers at Marlene, Mary decided that it was time to intervene.

“Lil, you can use one of my pens,” She pulled one out of her pencil case and handed it to Lily who took with with a sulking face. “I know it’s not a lucky one, but it hasn’t failed me yet.”

Marlene grinned smugly and dipped her quill in the inkwell. She put the quill to her parchment and then Mary lent forward and took the pen out of her pocket.

“You’d better not give it back to her,” Marlene warned without looking up.

With the issue partially resolved Mary picked up one of her textbooks for herbology and started skimming through the next few chapters. The sounds of quills scratching against parchment filled the air, along with hurried mutterings from the other students working on their own essays. The occasional thump of the books moving about on the shelves faded to background noise and Mary relaxed into her chair.

There was a gradual increase in noise as the minutes ticked past and students with empty stomachs made their way to the great hall, chattering about what would be for dinner and exchanging gossip for the day. Mary felt her tiredness starting to crept back in. After a day of essay writing, and the Quidditch practice in the morning, she was looking forward to her bed more than ever, but she was content to wait a little while longer while her friends finished their essays.

Both Marlene and Lily managed to finish around the same time and the three of the headed for their dorm before going down to dinner. Carrying their bags leaden with books and parchment wasn’t appealing to any of them.

The common room was mostly empty when they arrived back, a few first years scattered in the sofas and a few of the prefects running about tidying. In their dorm Mary quickly put away her parchment and pens and straightened her bedsheets from where she’d been in a rush that morning.

“Are you getting changed Mare?” Lily asked as she shimmed out of her jeans to tug on some comfier trousers.

Mary shook her head, and tugged the jumper up her shoulder, it kept falling down which must have been another side-effect of the stretching. “I’m too comfy in this,”

“You’ve been wearing it all day,” Marlene pointed out, a little bit of derision dripping of her lips.

“I happen to like this jumper,” 

“Okay,” Marlene shrugged, “You’re the one wearing it,”

“What’s wrong with a Quidditch jumper?” Mary asked. Marlene had never had a problem with her wearing it before. In fact she’s tried to steal it off her on more than one occasion. So why had she decided that her now oversized jumper was a problem, Mary couldn’t understand.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, Mare,” Lily said and glared at Marlene who rolled her eyes.

“Come on, Dorcas and Alice are probably waiting for us,” Marlene raked a hand through her hair and then bounced towards the door without looking at Mary again.

The unspoken conversation that had gone on between Lily and Marlene made Mary feel that she’d missed something, but what it was she didn’t know. So she followed them down to the great hall, hoping that some food would help her make sense of all the strangeness. 

“I’m sorry,” Marlene nudged her as they joined the group of students heading for the hall. “I shouldn’t have said anything about the jumper,”

“S’okay,” Mary smiled and nudged her back. “Don’t try to steal it again though.”

Marlene looked a little alarmed at the idea but Mary didn’t have time to question it as they’d reached the great hall. As always the noise was a little overwhelming at first. Hundreds of students packed in, all chattering and eating, meant that it was almost never quite except during the holidays.

Being taller than both Lily and Mary, Marlene spotted their friends first and pushed her way down the table to where they’d saved seats. Marlene sat down next to Dorcas, and Lily crawled her way to the other side to sit between Remus and Alice. With James on the other side of Remus, the only spare seat for Mary was on the other side of Marlene, next to Sirius.

She sat down in the seat and the chatter around her fell quiet. Sentences dropped off, and eyes turned towards her. A sense of expectation hung in the air. They were all expecting her to say something, to react to something and Mary had no clue why.

“Hi, everyone,” She said warily.

James’ face broke into a grin and Lily looked like she was about to start laughing. Mary, however, was still confused. Normally when they were all worried about her they didn't stare at her when she sat down. Their worry came in extra hugs, steaming mugs of tea and worried glances. This was something else.

“Evening, Mary,” Sirius said. His voice was a little gruff and he staring at her just as intently as everyone else. The only difference was that he was blushing. A light pink tinge had settled across his cheeks and if it hadn’t already been the strangest meal Mary had had she would have thought she was dreaming.

“How was your day?” He asked. Mary opened her mouth to answer but when Sirius’ appraised her and then shifted a little closer, all thoughts left her head. There was an odd look in his eyes, he looked a little like he’s just been caught by Filch without an excuse or a backup plan. He looked like he was drowning.

“I got my Charms essay finished,” Mary said and the chatter around them started up again. Whatever they were all waiting for had either happened or they’d given up. The look in Sirius’ eyes had disappeared as well, and his shoulders slumped in relief.

“Don’t remind me, I haven’t started,” Sirius groaned. 

Mary laughed and spooned some stew onto her plate. “I’m not helping you with it,”

“Harsh Macdonald,” He chuckled and Mary felt her heart soar. Somehow she’d managed to dispel whatever had been bothering him a few minutes earlier. The light had returned to his face and he happily joined in the conversation teasing James’ about something they’d been up to during the day.

The chatter dimmed a little as the food was devoured and then the noise rose again as energy seeped back into the hall. Even Mary felt a little more invigorated with her stomach full. The tiredness she’d felt in the morning was back though and she could feel her eyes drifting shut.

“Who’s up for exploding snap?” Peter declared once the plates had been cleared from the table.

“We’re not playing it in the common room,”

“You’d better have brought a new set of card after last time,”

“Can we try not to blow the castle up again,”

They played a few rounds, although Mary sat and watched as her dropping eye were in no state to be looking at cards. She hadn’t noticed that her eyes had slipped shut until her head hit something soft. The position wasn’t exactly comfortable with her head tilted to the side, but she was too tired to care. She was happy to let her mind drift away, until the table jumped and so did the thing she was leaning against.

Her eyes flew open to see cards scattered everywhere and Remus stood on the table.

“Sorry,” Sirius’ voice came in her ear, and then she noticed which way she was leaning. Her head had been on Sirius’ shoulder.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” 

The crick in her neck came out easily when she stretched it but her eyes were still heavy with sleep. “I should go to bed,” She yawned and covered her mouth with a hand.

As she started to extract herself from the bench Mary noticed that Sirius had also done so, making to follow her.

“Sirius,”

“I can walk you back to the common room,” He offered with a gentle smile.

Mary was touched at his thoughtfulness, mostly likely stemming from her reaction to Mulciber this morning she reasoned, but she wanted to go to bed and she didn’t want to drag him away from their friends.

“I’ll be fine,” She touched his arm and stood up, “Stay here and beat James,”

Sirius grinned and leant back against the table, debating with himself for a moment before standing and pulling her into a hug. Mary let out a little surprised ‘oomph’, but grinned into Sirius’ chest as she hugged him back.

“Night Mary,” He let her go and sat back down at the table. A slightly shocked look on his face marred by his grin made Mary smile back at him.

“Good night,” Mary replied, suddenly breathless, “Night everyone,”

‘Good nights’ resounded down the table, most of them accompanied by grins and raised eyebrows. Mary ignored them, only shooting Lily scowl when she wiggled her eyebrows. A hug with Sirius had never caused such a reaction before, but Mary was too tired to puzzle it out now. All she wanted was her nice warm bed, where she could curl up and sleep.

“Hey Macdonald, thought you might want this back,” James called as she started to walk away. 

She turned back and he threw what looked like another Quidditch jumper. The colouring was the same but it was bundled up in a ball and Mary couldn’t be bothered to see who’s name it had on the back. It was likely that it was a spare and James, being the Captain, he managed to get her an extra one. Perhaps he was suggesting that hers smelled, or that she should stop wearing it too much. 

Not caring enough ask, Mary waved a hand in thanks and tucked the jumper under her arm. When she got back to the dorm and exchanged her jumper for her pyjamas, a flash of gold caught her eye - well it’s more of a lack of one. 

Her Quidditch jumper with her long surname always had the name stretching from both sleeves but there was no sign of the ‘m’ or ‘d’ at either sleeve when she ran her fingers over it. She flipped the jumper over, wondering if the letter had come off in the wash.

What she’s confronted with was worse. 

Instead of her name on the back, the comforting name that her father said with his scottish lilt and the one her mother embroidered onto all her school clothes, the back of the jumper said ‘Black’. The letters were printed larger than the ones on her Macdonald jumper, and they didn’t look quite so worn.

Mary let out a gasp and sunk down onto her bed. She’d been walking around wearing Sirius’ jumper since this morning. She must have grabbed it in her hurry to get to the showers and been too tired to check.

That meant all day she’d been walking around all day, looking rumpled and tired, in Sirius’ jumper with his name on the back of it. Assumptions were going to have been made. No wonder people had been giving her strange looks all day. She’d practically declared them in a relationship for 8 hours without ever having said anything.

The looks at breakfast, the reaction to their hug, and the way everyone stared at dinner. The fourth years’ chattering in the library and Emmeline’s comments. Lily’s waggling eyebrows and the grins from every. Even Sirius’ blush, all made sense with this new information. No wonder everyone had been acting strangely around her all day. Mary’d been wearing Sirius’ jumper for hours and he hadn’t said a word.

How no one had mentioned it to her was a little bit puzzling too, but Mary leant back on her bed with the jumper spread out like a blanket on her lap. She could still smelt it, the scent that must have been Sirius, that made her want to bury herself in the jumper and never leave. Her cheeks flushed and she was glad that there was no one else to see it.

She folded the jumper and put it on the chair. It would have to go back tomorrow. She’d have to give it back and explain the mix up to her friends. The thought of them teasing Sirius’ about her down in the great hall made her start for a moment, in a sudden rush to defend him. But her bed was warm, and she knew that he would easily deflect any of their comments. He hadn’t seemed too phased at dinner by their looks, and there was no way James hadn’t mentioned it all day. He must have known, and from the way he’d acted he must have been okay with it. 

Mary sat up, a sudden thought occuring to her. Sirius hadn’t mentioned the jumper, or the way their friends had been acting. He’d been acting as if they were dating. It was almost as if he was okay with it. Mary tried to other reasons for his behaviour but her mind kept coming back that one. With a groan she crawled into under her covers. 

The whole situation was too complicated for her to think about while she was tired. It would have to wait for tomorrow. She pulled her covers up to her neck and let her mind drift away as the two jumpers, one Macdonald, the other Black, sat on the chair next to her bed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! There should be another chapter soon, I hope.
> 
> Say hi on [tumblr](https://www.willsdarcy.tumblr.com)


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